No such thing as too many Green Lanterns

When it comes to collecting action figures, I usually figure that one figure per character is enough. Sure, I've got a few doubles. I've got two Huntress figures, but technically one is Helena Wayne and the other is Helena Bertinelli. I've got two Black Canaries, but since one is the old-school Alex Ross version, it could be Dinah's mom, right? And I've got two of Batman, and yes, they're both Bruce Wayne, but the DC Universe Classics one has this permanent Quasimodo crouch that makes him, well, just not that nice. But on the whole, yes, one is enough.

Which makes me think about why I'm sitting here with three Kyle Rayner Green Lanterns.

And the reason is: it's the costumes.

I've got the old one wearing his second costume, with the spiky hair and the dog collar. I've got the original costume, the version from the recent JLA Classified series. And now I've got the current costume, from the Blackest Night series.

Apart from the white gloves, I actually like the current costume the best. (And what's with the Green Lanterns and the white gloves anyway? Are they running their fingers across mantelpieces to check for dust?)

This surprised me because I was actually a bit fan of his first costume, and wasn't so impressed with the new one when I first saw it.

You know what the problem is? It's the JLA Classified body--or, as one could call it, "Kyle on steroids." Thick-necked, overmuscled, and definitely not Kyle's body. The Kyle of this era, remember, is artist Kyle, brand new superhero Kyle, Kyle who didn't think he even needed to work out because, you know, he had the ring! He was fit enough for a normal guy, sure, but he wasn't built like Hawkman.

And the original costume, designed for a slimmer build, just looks like hell on that body sculpt.

What were they thinking?

Well, I'm assuming they were thinking of the art. That certainly seems to be the case with the other two figures. The dog-collar Kyle looks like he just stepped out of an Eaglesham page. The Blackest Night Kyle, astonishingly, looks like Gleason's work--something I find surprising because, while I like Gleason, I didn't think he'd translate well into plastic.

So with that in mind, I'm wondering if I should ever look for the JLA Classified books, or would the art just drive me crazy?